FRIDAY*5 PM: Very early numbers are starting to come in. One studio’s*estimates are much higher, but I’m sticking with the*middle*for this*Martin Luther King 4-day holiday weekend. The most important news is that there’s no sign of a 2012 box office slump — yet. Hollywood is very encouraged by these North American grosses so far:

I honestly think Beauty and the Beast 3D has a solid shot on being number one based upon the fact this is a holiday weekend and we could see a 100% jump tomorrow, but as mentioned earlier on Deadline...

Quote:

EXCLUSIVE: Rival studios tell me that exhibitors are quietly furious that Disney*has begun*selling the Beauty And The Beast 3D Blu-Ray DVD at Target and Walmart and other retailers without fanfare at the same time the film goes into theaters today. (Walmart lists the release date as October 2011 of this ‘Diamond Edition’ and has already discounted it from $49.99 to $34.96.) As one*rival studio exec tells me, “They think what Disney did is very underhanded by sneaking it into stores.” By contrast, last year’s Disney’s The Lion King 3D Blu-ray DVD didn’t go on sale until two weeks after the threatrical release.*”Is Beauty And The Beast 3D Blu-Ray going to be the experiment that closes the windows for sure?” one rival studio exec asks me. “If so the exhibitors have truly lost a major battle.”

Disney in its defense points out that the vast majority of families don’t have 3D televisions yet so the DVD won’t affect theatrical gross. “We’ve talked to all of our partners in exhibition about this and have made no secret about the Beauty And The Beast 3D Blu-Ray DVD being available. In fact there are multiple exhibition partners that are tying promotions into the 3D Blu-ray being available, like AMC and Regal.”

I’m surprised that exhibitors aren’t kicking up a public fuss. But they don’t want to call attention to the Beauty And The Beast 3D Blu-Ray DVD and hurt their own business. Guess they only go public if it’s about the VOD window. Remember all the publicity about Universal’s trial balloon for the*Tower Heist same-day VOD premiere for $59.99?*(Universal Halts ‘Tower Heist’ VOD Plan As Exhibitors Agree To Further Talks.) Meanwhile, Warner Bros is now trying to put the genie back into the bottle by negotiating longer windows. (Warner Bros Doubles Netflix Wait Period For Discs To 56 Days.)

TL;DR: Movie theaters are butthurt that Disney released the film in 3D on Blu-ray three months before its theatrical release.

The bigger question this weekend will be, how much will The Devil Inside drop from last weekend? My guess is more than 70%.

FRIDAY*10 PM: Better numbers are starting to come in*for this*Martin Luther King 4-day holiday weekend. The most important news is that there’s no sign of a 2012 box office slump — yet. Hollywood is very encouraged by these North American grosses so far. One note for your snarksters: Paramount’s The Devil Inside, which took big top honors last weekend, fell -84% from last Friday to this Friday and maybe -78% week to week because of word-of-mouth related to that*’F’ CinemaScore. As one rival studio exec snarked tonight: “The drop could better depending on the late night moron crowd.”

Contraband is doing well? It looked like another generic heist flick to me.

It has an advantage as nothing else "new" opened this weekend. The only competition it has is Beauty and the Beast 3D as it appeals to all four quadrants despite being the flick's second theatrical re-release.

I didn't post this last night as it wasn't updated until late night/early morning, but here's the second half of the top ten:

Would have been very interesting to see how much this woulda dropped if it didnt increase it's theater count by about 10% this weekend.
And no way n hell did Contraband cost only $25 million to make.

Oh and really pissed people are still giving money to 3d Re-releases. Seriously!?
I mean it just isn't right at all that Lion King 3d and Beauty and Beast 3d are gonna outgross HUGO.
What a freakin' world we live in when people wanna see 15-20 year old reheated titles that don't need to be re-relased instead of new interesting films.

I don't see an issue with people happy to get another chance to see a movie they loved on the big screen again, let alone take their kids who weren't born yet at the time of the original release.

In the case of Hugo, it didn't help that the marketing was terrible.

I dont have a problem with people wanting to see this on Blu-ray or DVD but I have a major problem this is re-released theatrically.
Very few movies deserve to be re-released theatrically and this is certainly not one.
Obviously there are people who will pay quite a bit of money to see this again with their kids who may be seeing it for the first time but I just find that concept so obscene. Just would seem terribly depressing to me to think about being in the theater where this is showing knowing I had spent money to see this when I can literally go watch it on at home on Blu. Meanwhile something new and fresh is playing across the hall.
just my opinion, but I really gotta criticize Disney due to exploiting their back catalog. I mean how far is this gonna go? Is there gonna be a day when there is like 3 or 4 re-releases in theaters at the same time?

^Because, all things being equal, for many the theatrical experience >>> the home video experience.

Plus Disney has routinely rereleased their animated movies to theaters since 1938. Less so in the DVD+ era, but it's long been a tradition. Relax bro.

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__________________Fuck you and your whore asshole that Eddie Money wouldn't dare touch. - Solid SnakeI wonder if I would turn invisible if I stick my finger up her ass. - Josh-da-man
But there's still HOKEYBLOG!!!

Yeah, I find it baffling that there is a problem with Disney re-releases. Then again, I've grown up with them. Like people said, they haven't been that common the last 10-15 years, but as a kid I saw many of the older movies in theaters and remember the experience.

The problem is though you couldn't hide from this movie if you tried; it was talked about in magazines, newspapers, TV shows, you had the books, TV adds etc... And to only make a mild profit has to be a disappointment for them considering the over exposure this got.

ANd we wont be seeing it in 3d. Both me and my girl agree its very fucking annoying and entirely worthless.
Sorry but we dont like 3D in this household.Maybe it's cause we both wear eyeglasses. I dunno. But its much more of a bother (Even if it costed LESS to see it in 3D we would pay extra to see it in 2D that's how much we can't stand it.)
Every time my girlfriend sees a trailer for a movie she wants to see that happens to say its coming in 3D she says "I wanna go see that. BUT NOT in 3D!"

^There's no such word as 'costed'. Unless it's rated R and over 2 hours long...

__________________Fuck you and your whore asshole that Eddie Money wouldn't dare touch. - Solid SnakeI wonder if I would turn invisible if I stick my finger up her ass. - Josh-da-man
But there's still HOKEYBLOG!!!